The tragic accident in Toronto last week of a five-year-old girl dying in a school zone serves to remind parents, teachers, drivers, and pedestrians always to stay aware when in school and playground zones.

Larry Kielo is the principal of the O.M. Irwin Middle School in Swift Current, and states that a tragic accident like that makes him look at their safety programs.

"Whenever an incident like that happens in a community you always do some reflecting and you do some thinking and consider what kind of an impact that would have on your community if that ever happened," he said. "I feel very confident and comfortable with our school safety plan and with our safety patrol program to prevent those kinds of things from happening."

He adds that being consistent with their safety patrol plan and reminding parents, kids, and drivers of it, is important to make sure that something like what happened in Toronto doesn't happen in Swift Current.

"We talk about being safe at school and about kids making good decisions," he said. "We often have reminders in our announcements about crossing the sidewalk and the crosswalk safely. Keeping that whole thought about being safe in the consciousness of everybody on a consistent basis, is something that we want to remind kids, parents, and drivers, consistently to make sure that we are all safe at the end of the day."

Like many schools in cities, O.M Irwin has crossing guards with yellow vests and stop signs at certain intersections to help kids cross the street.

He notes that having those crossing guards is vital for the safety of the kids.

"Having the guidance of an adult out there supporting our kids allows a visible presence for our school community," he said. "Having a presence out there with signage with our crosswalk guards and with a staff member out there at all times demonstrates were trying to do the best that we can to ensure that our kids can cross that busy street safely every day."

Kielo says that to him the busyness and the amount of traffic around O.M Irwin are what present the most danger.

"We have more parents driving their kids to school, and have more kids walking to school than we ever have," he said. "Just being where we are regarding the city and having the comprehensive high school as close as it is, it's busy. There is a lot of traffic, a lot of vehicles, school buses, people getting to and from work, it's just a busy area, and we need to be out there to make sure our kids are seen as they are trying to get to school and go home from school."

Kielo noted that drivers speeding through school zones and being distracted while driving are two other notable dangers.

He also adds that he wants to encourage people to take a moment to consider that it would take only a small moment of inattention that could cause a serious issue and we saw that unfortunately in Ontario last week.

"I know people are busy, your busy, but we could all just take a little more time to pass through school zones, and we know that our kids are out their and we want to keep them safe."